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CHAPTER 2
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ANCIENT CHINA: ORIGINS TO
EMPIRE
FROM PREHISTORY TO 220 C.E.
The Creation of China
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7000 B.C.E. - 1027 B.C.E.
The Neolithic Age
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The Huang Ho (Yellow) and Yangstze Rivers
Climate and rainfall dictated crop choice and
settlement patterns.
The Bronze Age
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2000 B.C.E
Shang dynasty and sophisticated bronze
metallurgy.
Developed a writing system that has lasted
for three millennia.
The King: religious and secular power.
The Zhou Dynasty:
The “Feudal” Age
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Shortly after 1030 B.C.E., the Zhou tribe
came from the west and overthrew the
Shang dynasty.
Zhou Economy and Society
The Philosophical Schools
Confucianism: Rationalized Hierarchy
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Kong Fuzi (known in the West as “Confucius”)
Confucian Philosophy
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The Confucian philosophy of China
addressed the problems of human society.
It was very simple and direct.
It was applied not only in government and
education but also in family matters.
Confucianism Throughout Asia
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Confucianism was applied in households
throughout China
Later it was applied in the Chineseinfluenced societies of Korea, Japan, and
Indochina.
Daoism: The Magic of Letting Go
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The second philosophical reaction to the
troubled times of the late Zhou period.
Revolt against both society and the
limitations of the intellect.
Confucianism and Daoism together shape
the course of Chinese history.
Mencius:
the Confucian Mandate of Heaven
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Mencius' right of rebellion against evil
rulers.
Legalism, another alternative.
The First Chinese Empire
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221 B.C.E - 220 C.E.
Unification of China by the Qin and the
Han Dynasties.
48 provinces with administrative units and
centrally controlled civil and administrative
bureaucrats.
Han Dynasty
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Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism were
synthesized in the Han dynasty.
They created a system that offered a single
comprehensive answer to the full range of
human problems and needs.
Han Culture
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The Empire Consolidated
Wu Di and Pax Sinica
Han Decline
Han Scholarship Art and
Technology
Ban Zhao, the Confucian Woman
Popular Daoism and Buddhism
China and Foreign Trade
Conclusion
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The geographic environment that shaped
Chinese society.
The common themes that carry over from
prehistoric into historic China.
What China was like during the Shang and
Chou dynasties.
The principles of Confucianism, Legalism
and Taoism.
Conclusion
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The manifestations of art, technology and
statecraft that emerged under Ch'in and
Han.
The elements that caused a cycle of rise and
fall during the Ch'in and Han dynasties.
China's foreign contacts and attitude toward
the outside world.